spindle

Meanings

Noun

  • A rod used for spinning and then winding natural fibres (especially wool), usually consisting of a shaft and a circular whorl positioned at either the upper or lower end of the shaft when suspended vertically from the forming thread.
  • A rod which turns, or on which something turns.
  • A rotary axis of a machine tool or power tool.
  • Certain of the species of the genus Euonymus, originally used for making the spindles used for spinning wool.
  • An upright spike for holding paper documents by skewering.
  • The fusee of a watch.
  • A long and slender stalk resembling a spindle.
  • A yarn measure containing, in cotton yarn, 15,120 yards; in linen yarn, 14,400 yards.
  • A solid generated by the revolution of a curved line about its base or double ordinate or chord.
  • Any marine univalve shell of the genus Tibia (genus); a spindle stromb.
  • Any marine gastropod with a spindle-shaped shell formerly in one of the three invalid genera called Fusus.
  • A cytoskeletal structure formed during mitosis
  • a dragonfly, calque of Swedish slända (dragonfly/spindle), introduced by New Sweden settlers.
  • A plastic container for packaging optical discs. Bulk blank CDs, DVDs, and BDs are often sold in such a package.

Verb

  • To make into a long tapered shape.
  • To take on a long tapered shape.
  • To impale on a device for holding paper documents.

Related

Similar words

Broader meaning words

Origin

  • , German Spindel ("spindle"), Danish spindel ("spindle"), Swedish spindel ("spindle").

Modern English dictionary

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